From Venus or from Mars? These Characters Are From the Bible!

Classes Begin Sunday, September 17, 201710:30 AM EDT - 12:30 PM EST

$100.00 - Friends of the Foundation

$120.00 - General Public

Biblical text does not spend a lot of words describing Biblical characters or their thoughts. Instead it concentrates primarily on their actions. As a result, we do not always get a full picture of the character or what motivates him or her. We are left to understand the characters and their deeds by ourselves.

Typically, we resort to either traditional or to more modern interpretations. By combining the views and theology of both we can reach a better extrapolation of the characters explored.

In class we will read stories of different characters in the Bible to find out what we can learn directly from the text, review what the traditional rabbis had to say about them, and then take a look at the modern interpretation, including feminist writings.

Note that both traditionalists and modern interpreters had the same "limited" text in front of them and therefore, in some of these cases, what we will study can also be labelled as Midrash.

The Foundation for Jewish Studiesestablished in 1984, is dedicated to adult Jewish learning in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Foundation's goal is to build a community of educated and committed Jews. To this end, the Foundation collaborates across denominational lines with other Jewish and secular communal organizations in programs and courses of Jewish scholarship. These programs, open to people of all faiths, highlight the spirituality, thought, and ethics of Judaism and the historical experience of the Jewish people.